A Thorn In The Ice

Chapter 37: Snow Time Like the Present

"You rescheduled the wedding without my permission?"
The queen had all but shrieked at the elderly holy man.

"My child, please correct me if I am wrong, but if my memory serves the last time you came to see me was begging the church schedule your wedding as soon as possible."
He raised an eyebrow.
"I remember..."
It was true, she had indeed barraged into his office with her new fiance in tow like an overly excited teenager just hours after Simon had initially proposed.
"Now I know I originally had it planned for june, but in light of the current situation, I decided that, in your words, as soon as possible, would be exactly what the monarchy and the church would need."
The elderly holy man felt something amiss after he spoke, looking back between the two, he could sense something off in the air, though he could not put his finger on it.
"So I went ahead and sent out a church decree to speed up the preparations. I hope I did not overstep my Queen. I do not see how this would be a problem, your engagement to the Horse Lord still  stands, does it not?"

For a moment, that final question felt as if it had sucked all the air out of the room.
"It does..." Simon answered for them, and she could have sworn his tone rang almost solemnly against her ears, but figured she was only channeling her own inner distress.

"I guess we are getting married in three days."
Simon finally spoke up as he returned Adelaide to her room and closed the door between herself and Simon. Not much had been spoken between them since they had left the study.
"I guess so."
She replied as they reached her door.
Adelaide felt empty, a void was within her and she felt a sudden and desperate urge to try and fill it.
Yanking on the hand that was currently gently holding hers, she pulled him into her arms and standing on the tips of her toes, she kissed him hard, and with more fervor than she ever had before.

At first Simon froze, surprised at a bold move that in the past was not like her. But her sweet familiar scent and taste quickly warmed him, and made him feel at home for the first time since he had actually come home, so instinctively, Simon began kissing her back. His hands gently grasped her waist, but it wasnt gentleness she wanted to feel, it fire and brimstone that her body yearned for.
Wrapping her arms tightly around him, she kissed him harder, willing her body to feel. She yearned to feel the earth shattering passions she had before, when in the arms of another.
She willed herself to believe that it had just been the act, not the person that had made her feel such a way, and after some effort, the numbness she had felt since the holy man had made his dramatic announcement faded, and the feelings did come, her body warmed at his kiss, his sweet and familiar taste, and her heart swelled with love, and relief at having him back in her arms.
She pulled back, happier than she been before, but feeling faintly like a flint that failed to strike a fire.
She felt joy, warmth and affection, but that was where those feelings ended; their was no fire, no brimstone, no overwhelming rush of dizzying desires threatening her to drag him into her chambers and have her way with him. 

"You love me right?"
She asked, staring up at him almost desperately.
"Of course I do."
He answered honestly. It was true, he did love her, he always had.
It indeed was the truth, but why didn't it feel that way?
His internal monologue summarized.
"As do I."
She smiled before bidding him goodbye for the time being and retreating to her room to rest.
With no servant around, she opened and closed her own door.

"Feeling better princess?"
The voice that greeted her from behind struck her ears like the music of a finely tuned harp.
"Iolas!" She cried out in an unexpected joy, turning around to find him sitting in the chair beside her bed with his leg slung over the armrest his his usual less than gracious manner.
As he stood up, she rushed toward him with hurried steps, arms suddenly aching to embrace him, walking faster and feeling more energetic than she had all day. She quickly slipped her arms under his and buried her face into his chest, her body roaring immediately back to life as she did. A moment passed, and the hesitance before he gently returned her embrace did not go unnoticed to the queen.

"Congratulations on your upcoming wedding."
The well packed away ice in his voice seemed to freeze the blood in her veins, making her feel an instant chill despite his almost unnaturally warm arms around her.
"So you've heard."
She sighed, stepping back from the embrace and finding a suprising difficulty to meet his gaze.
"If it helps, I've only found out about the wedding date change myself. I didn't arrange it, the Arch Bishop did."
She found herself inexplicably explaining, eyes still locked into the floor.

"I know. The palace walls have ears."
He replied, voice distant.
"Only if your listening..."
Said Adelaide.
"Iolas..."
She continued, forcing herself to meet his gaze, a task that in the moment made so many others pale in comparison. His dark eyes seemed to be holding a pained storm at bay, but his composer remained incredibly calm and collected despite that.
Not a single strand of red hair was astray, it was all once again perfectly styled, as was the rest of his appearance, a welcome change to the the disarray of their captured time.
He looked once again every part of the prince he was born.
"After everything that has happened between us... I dont even know what to say." The Queen paused for a moment, as it was all so overwhelming.
"I do wish for you to know that I meant what said when I thought we were about to die..."
She thought back to the panic in his eyes as the executioners approached, and how in that brief moment he had expressed his love for her in every way but with words.
"But I also meant that for..."
She trailed off, unable to say his name out loud, knowing that it would strike the man in front of her like the tail end of a whip.

"Its alright. I'll be alright. I know in my heart that you would have married me if your long lost love hadn't have made a miraculous return from the dead."
He said with a small, confident smirk.
"I guess that knowledge will have to be good enough, but good grief, I never thought that a miracle could be so inconvenient." He joked, and his next  smile easing more of the tension between them.

"But he is a good man, and he loves you; that he has proven with said miracle. You both deserve happiness and he seems to be the more deserving of that and you."
Iolas admitted heavily, putting the tension between them right back into its place.
"Its about time for me to be going home. I'm sure my father will be disappointed to learn I survived, and you know I can never pass up an opportunity to disappoint him."

"Your leaving?"
To say those two words seemed to take every last bit of oxygen from her lungs.
"So soon?"
He nodded.
"Will you at least stay for the wedding?"
She asked.
The well forced facade of calm faded for just a brief moment, and in that moment she saw the lighting flash.
"You can ask a lot of me princess, but not that."
The words came out in a repressed growl.
"You can ask me to accept your decisions, which I have, graciously I might add!"
The lighting struck.
"But to ask me to sit idly a pew, smiling and clapping as the woman I love marries another, that is too much.
I am accepting your decision, I swear it, but it will be a lot easier to do with an ocean between us!"
And with that he barged out of the room. 

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A/N: *insert usual apology for lateness*
Been struggling with writing lately, it's hard to write about love when your own love life always seems to be just one continously flushing toilet.
I've been too bitter and depressed to write, but yesterday I finally told off the  ghost whose been the root of all evil for a while, and though I still feel like crap, I feel a little better. Hope to finish this within two weeks.
-QueenOfGeeks.